Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao gangmu)
Compendio de materia médica (Bencao gangmu)
- Date
- 1578 · confidence high
- Place
- Qizhou (Qichun), Hubei, China
- Credited to
- Li Shizhen
- People
- 👤 Li Shizhen1517–1593
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
An encyclopedia of 1892 medicinal substances of plant, animal and mineral origin, classified by genus and species, with more than 11,000 recipes and 1100 illustrations. It is the most complete work of natural history from pre-modern China.
Published posthumously in Nanjing in 1593.
What it led to
- pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine
- natural classification of plants and animals in East Asia